I love JuJu, the 1981 alubm by Siouxise by the Banshees
My brother bought it that summer and it soundtracked many a board game and jigsaw.
I’ve tried for years to get into other Banshees albums but have never been satisfied to the same extent, I love some of their later singles but I think after 36 years I’m just going to accept that there’s only going to be one Siouxsie album for me
It’s a shame but also a relief
anyone have similar feelings for any artist?
Colin H says
Yes, David Bowie’s ‘Pin Ups’ is the only one of his albums I like. And (Austrian prog instrumentalist) Gandalf’s ‘Magic Theatre’ is a masterpiece whereas everything else by the fellow is, to my ears, pretty dreary.
nickduvet says
Moontan by Golden Earring – a brilliant slice of Euro prog that they were never able to repeat as far as I know
slotbadger says
QE2 by Mike Oldfield. It’s not rated as one of his best, but I remember being given a copy as a kid and it blew my mind. Never been able to get into his other albums
Tony Japanese says
On the assumption that we’ve at least sampled other offerings, the bands that immediately spring to mind in questions like this are The Sleepy Jackson and Guillemots. Great first albums, everything else has never managed to hit those early heights.
SteveT says
Have to disagree with you there @Tony Japanese – last Guillemots album was their best by far. They were due to release 4 albums in one year, one for each season but never got past that one.
retropath2 says
I found the first one too difficult, but loved the 2nd.
Mike_H says
The Tubes first album.
There are the odd track or two on some of their other albums, but none of them are as consistently good as the first.
Despite Todd Rundgren’s strangely muddy production job.
Sniffity says
Rundgren’s production may have been muddy, but it was streets ahead of the two or three albums that followed it.
fishface says
Yeah by Brownsville Station.
Dressed to Kill by…gulp..Kiss and many many hair metal bands of dubious merit.
Tiggerlion says
Oddly, the only Banshees album I like, I mean really, really love, is The Scream. Dystopian and terribly beautiful, the interaction of guitar and drum being especially brilliant.
seekenee says
Hmmm, might give that another go.
Tiggerlion says
In return, I’ll listen to JuJu again.
Vincent says
All the Banshees albums up to and including “Kiss in the dream House” are excellent to good, IMHO. “The Scream” is one of the few albums I still listen to from that era. They, like The Cure, are also a great singles (and, importantly, b-sides) band.
H.P. Saucecraft says
“Dystopian and terribly beautiful” – isn’t that a page from everyone’s diary?
Paul Wad says
Slightly different, but Guy Chambers has been involved in quite a few albums, with his band The Lemon Trees and as songwriter/partner of Robbie Williams. I don’t care for any of that, but the album he did with actor/producer/theatre director/all round posh clever clogs Sophie Hunter (otherwise known as Mrs. Cumberbatch), under the name The Isis Project is absolutely fab. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with the terror organisation, but is a breezy French chanteuse style pop album and it’s just beautiful. Here’s a taste.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Paul. That sounds extremely promising.
Let’s have another track!
Timbar says
It’s rather fab – and had a track on a Word cd, which was how I found out about it.
My fave track is this – which also would fit into the good outros thread.
dai says
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes
Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks 😉
The Waterboys – Fishermen’s Blues
Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis
Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (III)
davebigpicture says
I’d take issue with you over The Waterboys. Although very different to Fishermen’s Blues, This Is The Sea is essential.
dai says
Will give it another go.
Freddy Steady says
And A Pagan Place. If only for the title track.
seekenee says
I’d be with you with the peter gabriel were it not for Passion the last temptation.. soundtrack
Tiggerlion says
I know So is the expensive, commercial one but it’s bloody marvellous. I rather like II and IV too.
dai says
IV is pretty good. I like some of So, but only III is essential (to me).
(have not heard Passion)
Moose the Mooche says
I am the only person in the world who really loves PG’s first album. So OTT, so eclectic, so much more than “Er, the one with Solsbury Hill on it”.
nickduvet says
I’m a fan of PG1, with the proviso that he gave Bob Esrin a bit too much freedom. Side 2 is especially OTT but Here Comes The Flood is one his best ever tunes
Moose the Mooche says
Down the Dolce Vita is a bit of a shock to people who think they know what to expect from the Gabe, because it ROCKS. He even grunts like Jagger or someat. Elsewhere on the album, a barbershop quartet at the beginning of Excuse Me. Crazy guy.
I still have the vinly, with its lovely Monty Python-style Charisma label.
MC Escher says
Me too. It’s the one I play most today, I guess that means it’s my fave.
The car on the cover is a Lancia Flavia it seems. I wanted to own that car when I was… let’s just stick with “younger” shall we.
Tiggerlion says
My favourite version of Here Comes The Flood is just PG singing and playing a keyboard. Incredibly moving. That man had a tremendous ache in his voice that made my heart throb with pain.
Moose the Mooche says
That’s the one on Shaking the Tree. Brilliant it is.
One of the many times Hepworth has caused a colossal cartoon question mark to appear in the air above my head was when he said he could detect no kind of emotional content in Peter Gabriel’s work. Mate, it’s alright not to like it, but there’s no need to be obtuse.
GCU Grey Area says
I think I know what ver Heppo meant, but as you say, he is wrong.
I love PG1. I think I could survive with just 1 and So, but that would mean doing without ‘On The Air’, and ‘San Jacinto’.
PG1’s duotone cover is great. I wonder why is he sitting in the back of the Lancia?
duco01 says
Yes, I love that solo piano version of Here Comes the Flood, too. I also love the version that Peter did on the Kate Bush Christmas special. No histrionics. Very low-key. But all the more moving for that.
Peter is introduced by a short snippet sung by three people. The person in the middle is Kate Bush. And I think the person on the right is Kate’s brother Paddy. But I’ve no idea who the woman on the left is. Does any Afterworder know?
Rigid Digit says
Small Faces – Ogdens Nut Gone Flake.
Plenty of top notch singles, but this the only album worth owning (isn’t it?)
Rigid Digit says
Foghat – Live
Head and shoulders above anything else bearing their name.
Rigid Digit says
David Gray – White Ladder
Great little album, don’t need to try too hard.
But anything else … meh
Gary says
Dire Straits – Dire Straits
UB40 – Signing Off
Everything But The Girl – Eden
Tom Petty – Damn The Torpedoes
Lambchop – Is A Woman
Massive Attack – Blue Lines
Joy Division – Closer
The Jim Carroll Band – Catholic Boy
David Gilmour – On An Island
Roger Waters – The Pros & Cons Of Hitchhiking
Stevie Nicks – Bella Donna
Marianne Faithful – Broken English
The Human League – Dare
Bob Marley – Exodus
Simply Red – Picture Book
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
The Feeling – 12 Stops & Home
Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat
J.J. Cale – Shades
Rigid Digit says
Second Coming?
Gary says
I hated it at first. Then I got to like one or two tracks. Then I never played it again. I still play the first album a helluva lot.
Declan says
I enjoy both Stone Roses albums.
In fact, all the Massive Attack stuff is fine by me as well. Blue Lines, though Gary. You know this? Jump to 3.00.
https://youtu.be/5aw2rM0w-pc
Kid Dynamite says
Band whose music is based on samples using samples shocker. Or am I daydreaming?
Franco says
Hmm…I liked the first two Human League albums. Did I read somewhere that Phil Oakey doesn’t like them?
Tiggerlion says
You are missing out on Bob Marley. Start with the recent Live! deluxe, then go backwards in time. Then, do the rest.
Gary says
Tosh and piffle, Tiggs. We’ve had this conversation before. You were wrong then and it disappoints me not a little to observe that you still are. You need to open your mind more to the possibility that your views are totes wacko. I have all the albums. There are smatterings of real good here and there. Some fab songs (most of which appear on Legend). There are also lots of unremarkable, unmemorable tracks. Exodus is his only faultless, perfect quality from beginning to end, in a class of its own, work of total Gary-friendly genius.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
If I had to nominate the worst Marley album then Exodus (Rastafari gone even loopier) is the one. By the way Gary, I tried your add your age to your birth year to get this year’s date. Unless this is 1987 your theory doesn’t work
Gary says
I’ll admit Exodus is the most “commercial” (wide appeal etc) of his albums. And tbh it really galls me to claim Exodus as reggae’s greatest achievement cos when I mention my love of reggae to civilians they always reply citing love of Marley (and only Exodus and Legend at that) and know feck all else. It’s commercial appeal and ubiquity do diminish its value somewhat. But… it’s such an amazing album, chock full of fantastic melodies and groovy choons. None of his other albums come close. (Except Legend.) Of course there are great Marley choons all over the shop (Burnin’ And Lootin’ and Put It On are probably my two fave non-Exodus nor Legend tracks) but I find the other albums pretty unremarkable compared to my fave reggae albums (topped by The Wailing Souls’ Classic Cuts).
I’m guessing from your post that you were born in March 1967. Which makes you 50 years old. 1967 + 50 = 2017.
Tony Japanese says
I like the song about ‘who shall ever diggeth the pit, shall fall in it’.
Gary says
And it’s true. I duggeth a pit and fell in it. Hurteth me shoulder.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I was born in 1949 , I am 38 (although some may doubt that fact) therefore it is 1987??
Gary says
There’s something not right there. Fapped if I can see what it is though.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Fapping, that’s what’s wrong – blindness will surely follow
Tiggerlion says
Do you like Pop music, Gary? Don’t worry, it’s OK. I like Pop music too. Half of Exodus is Pop music. I really, really like Reggae and Bob Marley/Wailers Reggae is the amongst best ever made. It’s Natty Dread, Live!, Burnin’, African Herbsman for me, Gary. Not one bad track across those four albums. I also love the fact that Kaya is Yin to Exodus’s Yang. Another wonderful album without a duff track.
Gary says
When I get home this afternoon I’m going to give Kaya another listen and tell you what tracks are duff, for your general elucidation.
Tiggerlion says
Marvellous. I’m always willing to learn.
Gary says
Having a Marley binge on Spotify right now. Kaya playing at mo @Tiggerlion. Haven’t heard it for years. Nothing has changed. Dull then, dull now. Bland as fepp. Duff track? Crisis. And Running Away. It’s all so safe. Mystery to me how you can think this is as good as Exodus. I’d much rather be listening to The Wailing Souls or Prince Far I or Michael Palmer or any number or reggae greats rather than this.
I think my feeling towards him is very similar to my feelings towards Bowie (again, very different to yours). One really brilliant album and loads of really brilliant hits, but the rest is all pretty dull.
Listening to Catch A Fire now. Definitely agree with fentonsteve – the Jamaican mix is better. Still nothing anywhere near as captivating as Natural Mystic though.
Fell asleep.
Got bored. Given up. Gone back to what I like best.
Tiggerlion says
Of course it’s safe. Just like much of Exodus. Those two albums are the opposite sides of the same coin, a commercial, reggae-lite coin, Kaya being the mellow one, Exodus the dance one.
I took it as a given that Catch A Fire is his best. Is Stir It Up on Legend? It’s beautiful.
We’ll argue about Bowie another time but, as a matter of interest, which album do you think is brilliant? Let’s Dance?
Gary says
Stir It Up is on Legend (and is indeed beautiful).
Actually, with Bowie I like more than one album (so didn’t put him on my ‘one album’ list). Four in fact! Space Oddity, Ziggy, Station and Blackstar I can listen to all the way thru. (But I don’t like the Berlin albums or Scary Monsters.)
Gary says
And Young Americans! I forgot that. I love Young Americans too. Five albums I like. In fact I don’t know why I mentioned Bowie at all. Silly me.
fentonsteve says
I like Catch A Fire more than Exodus, but can see why people like it.
What I really like is the Jamaican mix of Catch A Fire on the deluxe edition.
Moose the Mooche says
I do too but… I do like the bits that Blackwell slathered on the release version, the reverb and the bursts of rawwwwk guitar. I know it’s wrong but it feels so good.
Junior Wells says
To nominate Exodus ,nay to nominate Marley as a one album artist is ludicrous.
Survival is a ,for want of a better term, more sophisticated album. Confrontation has got plenty of reggae light for whiteys. Burnin and Catch a Fire ,more stripped down and absolutely essential.
Diddley Farquar says
Exodus should be excluded and cast out, it can go. Survival on the other hand should remain, for it lasts and endures whatever. Isn’t that so?
Gary says
Burnin’ is worth burning though? (But as for Confrontation, well, fepp you!)
Junior Wells says
Actually I meant Kaya not Confrontation which is a lesser album.
Gary says
But it’s hard to think of a Kaya joke.
nickduvet says
Exodus isn’t the only Marley album with decent tunes on it. Rastaman Vibration has some corkers, with Bob on top testifying form. Kaya was dissed at the time because he recycled some early songs, but they’re great songs so who cares? And Uprising is the finest of his late period albums, and the best sounding too.
duco01 says
As regards Bob Marley, I’d say at a minimum one needs:
– A compilation of the early pre-Island stuff, such as African Herbsman
– A live album (my favourite is the extraordinary Live at the Roxy)
– Catch a Fire (including Jamaican version)
– Burnin
– Natty Dread
– Rastaman Vibration
– Exodus
– Survival
There’s also some tasty stuff on the “Songs of Freedom” box, especially the Acoustic Medley recorded in a Stockholm hotel room.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Best Marley album for me is “Bob Marley v Lee Scratch Perry – The Best of the Upsetter Years” , the pinnacle of his output but to include Mr Marley in a One Album debate is just plain wrong
Gary says
Yeah, that told you Moose. Ya fapping eejit.
While I’m here, Junior, name me a non-Exodus, non-Legend Marley song that really floats your boat. One that’s up there with Natural Mystic or Redemption Song in your opinion, soze I can give it an ultra-listen (albeit with a closed mind, for I have already established my agenda and I’ll most likely stick to that no matter what).
Junior Wells says
Most of Survival. It is denser but give it a few plays. Is the album preceding Exodus. Don’t get me wrong – Exidus fantastic and saw him on that tour it is , as commented elsewhere, the notion of Marley being in a one album list is, to my mind, heresy.
I’m pretty much with Duco.
Moose the Mooche says
What told me? What told me what? That an opinion I know to be unacceptable is unacceptable? Wow. Amazing!
…. and I don’t hold with all this only-white-people-like-Could You Be Loved-type rubbish. Oh, he compromised and went commercial… have you seen the cover of Survival? Does it look like a fucking Dooleys record?
What’s the whitest music in the world in 2017? Old dub records that you can’t dance to.
Gary says
I was just ribbing Junior for seemingly replying to you when really he was replying to me. But the boxes are all over the shop and I’m all confused now as to who’s replying to who and who thinks what. Which usually doesn’t happen until after me I’ve had me dinner.
Moose the Mooche says
Tell me about it. I’ve just put me doings out of kilter trying to dance to Dematerialise by Scientist. The neighbours thoughts I was just doing really bad T’ai Chi. I suppose I should have stayed indoors.
Junior Wells says
Best track Small Axe
Mike_H says
Heartily sick of “Redemption Song”. I never thought that much of it when I first heard it and years of radio plays and dire busker covers have made me entirely hostile to even the thought of it.
Gary says
I feel the same about The Beatles.
JustB says
Also as Nick Hornby points out, it’s not OK to write a song about redemption that contains the word “redemption”.
bricameron says
Redemption song you have to be in the frame of mind to accept it. It’s a beautiful song on face value.
Gary says
sorry to correct you bri, but it’s not on face value.
face value tracklisting:
in the air tonight
this must be love
behind the lines
the roof is leaking
droned
hand in hand
i missed again
you know what i mean
thunder and lightning
i’m not moving
if leaving me is easy
tomorrow never knows
over the rainbow
lol, i should be on telly, etc.
bricameron says
Italian Gary! I promoted you earlier!
Gary says
Yes!
Declan says
Sugar – Copper Blue
Carole King – Tapestry
Fat Freddys Drop – Based On A True Story
Air – Moon Safari
Young Disciples – Road To Freedom
Eleventh Dream Day – Ursa Major
Tricky – Maxinquaye
Love – Forever Changes
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
Bo Hansson – Lord Of The Rings
Nils Lofgren – Cry Tough
Bingo Little says
Nooo!
I quite like the second Tricky album (Pre-Millennial Tension – awful title).
It’s not as good as the brilliant first one, but it has Makes Me Wanna Die on it. And this…
Sewer Robot says
I’m rather fond of his new one. Cettainly better than most of that ghastly noise “Zane” Bingo recommends…
Gary says
My favourite album by George Harrison is called, rather coincidentally, George Harrison. ATMP has some great songs, but by golly it has a lot of rubbish on it. Most of it, in fact.
That Nils Lofgren album with No Mercy and Shine Silently and his versh of Baltimore on it is pretty spiffing.
Declan says
“Jailbait” notwithstanding. 40 years ago, but jeez.
Paul Wad says
Yes, that’s my favourite George Harrison album too. Blow Away is a fantastic song, one of his best.
Harold Holt says
Re:Sugar – bit of context needed. Ok, Copper Blue was the best one of a limited career for consistency and hit material, but FUEL is pretty damn close behind.
Then there’s the Mould ‘solo’ career (bearing in mind he wrote most of the Sugar catalog and all my favourite Husker Du tracks), so I’d pitch in Black Sheets of Rain, Workbook and Silver Age as all very good with moments of brilliance. Even Last Dog And Pony Show has more to recommend it than many chart toppers I remember buying on the strength of a single.
Moose the Mooche says
Beaster is worth it for Walking Away. Which is a thing of nothing, a trifle… and beautiful.
drneil says
Marshall Crenshaw
After an upbeat first album the next few were full of dirges.
Del Amitri : The Waking Hours
To be fair they did some good stuff afterwards but were guilty of getting Crenshaw’s Disease of producing lots of sloooooooow songs. The Waking Hours is the one I return to.
Tracy Far From The Hurting Kind
I picked this up cheap and really liked it. Next album wasn’t released. This one vanished for 10 years.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Furrows in “The Narrow Field Of Quote/Unquote Classic Rock”:
Colosseum: Valentyne Suite
Taste: On The Boards
Jethro Tull: Stand Up
The Who: Meaty Beaty
The Kinks: any greatest hits collection will do
The Small Faces: Ogden’s
Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac: never made the album they should have, or managed a decent Greatest Hits
The Zombies: Oddysey & Oracle
Cream: Disraeli Gears
Barclay James Harvest: Once Again
Boston: First Album
Aerosmith: Toys In The Attic
John Cale: Paris 1919
(and before Tigger chimes in with “try so-and-so, then work backwards” – I did that already)
Declan says
Hang on. If we’re having 60s best of the rest groups (Who, Kinks, Move), better not forget a Hollies hits package.
Tiggerlion says
A few of those are keepers (Zombies, Kinks & Cale). Bin the rest.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks for confirming my impeccable taste.
Mike_H says
I’m rather partial to The Who’s “A Quick One” as well as “Meaty, Beaty, Etc…”
From the halcyon days when pop and rock were not two separate things.
Harold Holt says
Now that’s got to be trolling about the Dels – Twisted and Change Everything are both fantastic.
Pessoa says
Television: Marquee Moon
Gang of Four: Entertainment
House of Love: House of Love
Portishead: Dummy ( although I personally like ‘Third’ a lot, they are going to be remembered for the debut)
Kid Dynamite says
It has been largely forgotten now, but I always rated the third Television album.
Declan says
@H.P. Saucecraft
Can’t argue with most of that, although the first Taste album is a classic of its ilk, still love it, and Jethro Tull did several fine albums, of which Stand Up is, of course, the best. And The Who had their (album track) moments.
Regarding the original Fleetwood Mac, I happen to own a delightful little Magical-Mystery-Tour-style double-7″ featuring The Move’s 4 greatest nuggets. Now THAT is what’s needed here.
mikethep says
Let me guess: Blackberry Way, I Can Hear the Grass Grow, Fire Brigade, Flowers in the Rain.
Yes?
Declan says
Close but no cigar, Mike. Night Of Fear for Flowers.
mikethep says
Hmmm…I think I’d rather lose Blackberry Way than Flowers…
Carl says
The Move’s greatest has to include California Man and Do Ya?.
Declan says
My Castle Collector Series 24-track double vinyl features neither! Do remember California Man though.
retropath2 says
What about Curly? The song that needs playing whenever Roy Wood is touted a visionary and genius.
Wayfarer says
Annie Lennox – Medusa.
fentonsteve says
Dido – No Angel, or whatever her first one was.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Madonna – Ray Of Light
fentonsteve says
Yeabbut, Ray Of Light was mostly that Orbit chap with Mads warbling over the top. Wrigley’s, that’s the fella.
Like A Virgin’s the one, Shirley?
JustB says
No, Madge has several really good albums and they’re worth owning in their own right. Not fair to say that she’s just producer+Madge bolted on, as she’s very involved in her chosen collaborators’ creative processes (or rather, they’re involved in hers) – she’s like the Alien in that the species of the host determines the type of chestburster you end up with. Hmm. Having doubts about this metaphor. Ray Of Light only sounds a BIT like other William Orbit productions; Music only sounds a BIT like other Mirwais, and so on. She’s unmistakeably herself, regardless of who she’s working with.
I’d say Like A Virgin, Like A Prayer, True Blue, Erotica, Ray of Light and Music are all must-owns.
And the Immaculate Collection is the best greatest hits by anyone ever.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I was playing weevil’s avocado with the Madonna choice. It’s the only album of hers that’s stayed with me. But I never play it. It just sits there. Hang on – it’s gone! Madge becomes another no-album artist for me!
Black Type says
Life For Rent is better than No Angel (Dido Ed.)
Paul Wad says
There are so many examples of pure wrongness in this thread that I wouldn’t know where to start!
Okay, I think I’d start with Air and Massive Attack…
Gary says
I’ve tried with Massive Attack. Honestly I have. I love Blue Lines so much I’ve bought every album since, but to increasing disappointment. Protection had three tracks I really like (Protection, Better Things, Spying Glass), Mezzanine only had one (Teardrop) and nothing since then has appealed. I find Blue Lines such a warm, smokey, stoner album. Mezzanine onwards strike me as really cold, harsh, more cokehead albums.
Kaisfatdad says
I think you are a little harsh on Protection. And Mezzanine has the wonderful Man Next Door. But otherwise, I would tend to agree with you, Gary. “Cokehead” seems to hit the nail on the head.
Paul Wad says
I’d certainly agree that Blue Lines towers above the other Massive Attack records, but it towers above most records. The others suffer because Blue Lines is so good, but I still like them.
I guess it’s the same with Air, in that Moon Safari is so good that the other albums can’t help being in its shadow, but again, there’s loads to like on the other albums. The only one that is a little below par is 10,000 Hz Legend. But Love 2 and Pocket Symphony are cracking albums.
I would have thought that the bands you only need one album by would be Red Hot Chili Peppers or Scouting For Girls. Not because they have one album that is so much better than the others, but because all their songs sound the same, so there’s no point having more than one album.
Gary says
All the albums on my list are albums I really, really love yet have never found anything else by the artist that I consider worthy of my hardly earned cash.
Kid Dynamite says
Angel, Risingson, Inertia Creeps…
JustB says
God yes, I absolutely bloody love Mezzanine. I don’t think any record has ever recreated so successfully what I imagine the sensation of suffocating to death in a sealed black room full of weed smoke would be like. In a good way.
duco01 says
1. Kaisfatdad and I went to see Massive Attack on the Mezzanine tour. They were loud. The bass on “Man Next Door” virtually knocked me over.
2. I don’t like that nasty beetly thing on the front cover of Mezzanine. It feel its jaws could give me a nasty nip.
Kid Dynamite says
You know some records rock, while other records swing? Mezzanine throbs.
JustB says
It really does. Nailed it.
duco01 says
If we’re only considering studio albums here, then I’d have to say the Who. I love “Who’s Next”, but struggle with the other studio albums of theirs that I’ve heard.
Oh dear. I’ve probably incurred the ire of all ‘Orrible ‘Oo fans on this board …
Paul Wad says
Yes, that’s how I feel about the Who and the only albums of theirs I like. I’ve never understood the esteem they are held in. So much so that their leader’s indiscretions are swept under the carpet.
Another band with some good songs but only one album I care for are The Beach Boys, the one album being the obvious one. Try as I have, I just find the other albums too full of filler and whimsy. Some are painful to listen to. But Pet Sounds, although terribly overrated itsel, and a greatest hits compilation are great.
Rigid Digit says
First two albums are the sound of a live and/or singles band not really having much more to give in the studio
After that, a run of 4 very very fine albums:
Sell Out
Tommy (overblown, overfamiliar, but barely a duff track)
Who’s Next (undoubted peak ‘Oo)
Quadrophenia (I will ignore any doubters of this album by sticking my fingers in my ears and saying “La La La”)
The next album was called The Who By Numbers – and it really was. Some good stuff there, but the “magic” was going
Tiggerlion says
I’m very fond The Who By Numbers, a personal confessional by Townshend with a bunch of mates supporting him through a crisis. However, My Generation (mono mix) is utterly startling and they never bettered it, imho. Maximum R&B, indeed.
JustB says
An opportunity to say for the second time today that I think The Who are absolute pony.
Junior Wells says
I think we heard you the first time Bob.
Kid Dynamite says
He’s right though, isn’t he?
count jim moriarty says
No.
JustB says
Oh but yes.
DogFacedBoy says
Nope – whether it’s the mod pop 60s Who, the rock pomp 70s Who or even the You Better* 80s Who there has got to be something in there to like. Or you a right pranny, mister.
* YBYB was first Who song I ever heard and went n bought with my pocket money
Kid Dynamite says
*holds up hand* Please sir! I’m a pranny, sir!
JustB says
ME TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO
OO
DogFacedBoy says
We heard you the first time
Moose the Mooche says
Good lord. I haven’t seen or heard the word pranny for 30 years. Always a trip down memory lane, is the Afterword. Brill, ace and skill.*
(*solicitors, commissioners for oaths)
JustB says
Funny how nobody says “we heard you the first time” when the usual suspects crap all over the entire genre of hip hop, or – y’know – modern music in general, for the fifteen-millionth time, eh? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 🙂
Moose the Mooche says
Are The Who not modern then? Their guitarist has a computer!
…er…
JustB says
Haha! You’re promoted to Kevin Greening.
Moose the Mooche says
Well, that’s an improvement, even though he’s dead.
H.P. Saucecraft says
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Junior Wells says
It was only coz you popped up on two threads with similar comments. Was intended to be light hearted as was yours I thought.
But as to the band in question I’m with Dave
and the Count.
Captain Haddock says
An opportunity to say for the first time today that I second you.
Junior Wells says
Best track Small Axe
seekenee says
I have another one
Depeche Mode – Violator
Moose the Mooche says
paging @black-celebration
Black Celebration says
Well if you like Violator, you should lend an ear to other ones as there are similar sounds going on in Music for the Masses, Black Celebration and Ultra. Songs of Faith and Devotion is rocktastic but to my mind it was a departure from that lovely synth feeling.
But if anyone out there has one Depeche Mode album it’s either the Greatest Hits or Violator, so fair enough.
Moose the Mooche says
Which Greatest Hits?
Genuine question!
Black Celebration says
There was a compilation in 2005 that sold surprisingly well so that was the one I was thinking of. It has a flower on the front.
Paul Wad says
But where would Gary Numan be right now had he not heard Songs of Faith and Devotion? One of those 80s Rewind Festivals or something. Instead, he’s out-Modeing the Mode!
Black Celebration says
I thought that while listening to Numan’s Savage album. There are sounds on there that are very Depeche Mode.
seekenee says
Yes I have hopes for music for the masses which I have but the post violator stuff I find hard work. Don’t know the early albums but quite like the singles
slotbadger says
This is the only Patti album that sort of lives up to the hype – the rest are nowhere near (IMO)
Junior Wells says
Radio Ethiopia pretty close. Just less impact coz Horses came first.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Radio Ethiopia had less impact because Horses came first? That’s very charitable of you. On release, it was universally panned, even by the most fervent Pattifans. It’s never recovered, never had a critical reappraisal, because it’s really not very good at all. She’s definitely a One Album Artist (for me, a no-album artist, but I can see why people like it).
Moose the Mooche says
She’s a bloody one-single artist for me (yes, that Broooooce song)
H.P. Saucecraft says
That was unforgivable. How she could imagine that anyone would think it was hers is beyond me.
Moose the Mooche says
Somebody on this site thinks that her Gloria is superior to Van & Them’s.
*lights torch, grabs pitchfork*
H.P. Saucecraft says
I have to censure the lamentable chap who cried out “shut up, Granny!” at some event where she stood to give a peroration. Though.
Junior Wells says
The fact that it was panned on release doesn’t contradict my comment.
It is denser, less accessible but it is still good. It is Patti going more in one direction while Easter and Waves took her in the more obvious commercial rock direction.
H.P. Saucecraft says
The fact that it was universally dismissed as a terrible piece of shit in no way contradicts your statement that it was good.
Ri-ight …
Junior Wells says
Yeah ri-ight
They all responded in the manner as I described. Coming after Horses it disappointed. Blood on Tracks > Desire.
And it wasn’t universally dismissed as a piece of shit. That’s dishonest of you HP.
Looking back at reviews most seem to say it opens with a cracker in Ask The Angels and has many high points but less cohesive than its predecessor.
I quite liked this review from someone on Amazon although I wouldn’t take the enthusiasm up to 11 as they have.
One of Smith’s two best albums, Horses being the other one – and I think I slightly prefer this one. While the first was ascribed to ‘Patti Smith’ alone, this one is ‘Patti Smith group’; she is still the One, but there is a guitar playing here that goes straight down the spine (Ain’t it strange beginning, for instance). Isn’t it all a tad pretentious, with all that Rimbaud and poetry stuff? You bet. But does it work? Oh yeah. “Ask the angels” and “Pumping my heart” are wonderful rock’n’roll, guaranteed to get your heart and fists pumping, while tracks like “Poppies” and “Distant fingers” are the best of seventies cool, surely. ‘Pissing in a river’ is another fantastic highlight, this grows on you (and me, for 32 years already…). Not a bad track on the album (well, maybe ~Abyssinia~). “Ain’t it strange” is the absolute high point from the high priestess of rock (sorry if I grow a tad pompous, must be the music) – electric, understated, tense and wonderful. This is an album that is performed from both the heart and the brain, and the two mesh to perfection.Total abandon!
This reviewer from Amazon
H.P. Saucecraft says
All the reviews I remember from the time of release, in the UK and the US magazines I read, were negative. There was one early exception (as I remember), very possibly in the NME, possibly by Julie Burchill, that drooled about how great it was. It was also evident from the review that the reviewer hadn’t actually heard it, something pointed out in the letters column the following week.
But my problem here is that I really don’t give enough of a shit either way.
Gary says
One man’s “problem” is another man’s “challenge”.
Junior Wells says
Indeed the problem of many a debate. Just put the platter on and a few things struck me. They knew how to package them back in the day. Four full pages of liner notes and photos and Patti crap, all legible without the aid of spotlights and magnifying glass. It does sound a bit muddy. Produced by Jack Douglas with Clae , Lanier et al somewhere in the mix (see what I did there) but not a patch on the burst out of the speakers Horses. Also I got to relive that not missed experience of the click with the stylus stuck on the same groove.
I’d give it a 7.
This one was a cracker
H.P. Saucecraft says
Judith Chalmers: Ali Baba & The 40 Thieves / Aladdin & His Wonderful Lamp (does Gary count this amongst his most memorable ten-inchers?)
Gary says
Dang right I do! Her rendition of Stop It, Sultan is absolutely.
Sniffity says
Sparks – Kimono My House
nickduvet says
Wrongitty.
They’ve probably produced more albums of quality in the last 45 years than any other band still going. Have a listen to their latest, Hippopotamus. Rather good it is.
Deviant808 says
Unlikely to be a popular opinion around here, but the only Springsteen album I really like is “Nebraska”.
Plenty of other individual tracks I like, but haven’t heard another album I’d want to sit through again.
duco01 says
Well, if you like Nebraska, I reckon you’d probably like most of “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. It’s in a similar style to Nebraska and has a few absolute gems on it, such as “Youngstown,” one of my absolute favourite Springsteen songs.
Gary says
I thought along those lines, was sure I’d like Joad cos I like Nebraska, but then found I didn’t have much like for it at all. And can’t really put my finger on why. Why do I like Nebraska but not Joad? One of life’s many little mysteries.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I like them both because I’m an undiscriminating idiot. I also like Devils & Dust. I also like his first album A LOT. But I like TWTIATESS the most. A bit more than I like Born To Run, which I like a little more than Nebraska. But I like Nebraska A LOT. A Bit More than Lucky Town, which I like a lot more than most people. I Like Human Touch a lot more than most people, too, without liking it a lot, but quite a bit. I like The River much more than I used to, more than Born In The USA, which I like less than I used to but still more than The Rising. I like Bruce A LOT.
Gary says
Not as much as I like you.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Cheeky!
*pats hair behind ears*
Tiggerlion says
The only one I like is Darkness At The Edge Of Town. Oh. And double CD of its outtakes. What was it called? The Promise?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I like Darkness On The Edge Of Town A LOT, more than Born In The USA but not as much as Born to Run, which I like a lot more than I like Magic, which I don’t like a lot but more than a little. The Promise is an album I like A LOT too, but less of a lot than I like DOTEOT, which I like A LOT more than I like Tunnel Of Love, which I know A LOT of people like A LOT but which I like A LOT less than his first album.
MC Escher says
Just give in and do a list, you know you want to. The sense of release will be wonderful, like dropping an anvil you’ve been carrying around. Also, dropping the anvil will make it much easier to type.
H.P. Saucecraft says
1 Skype dad while playing solitaire, saying “ye-es” and “really?”
2 Play “pants” with house dog
3 Sit on deck with wife and let her beat me at gin rummy
4 Watch half a Shit Movie
5 Shower
6 Go to bed
Bingo Little says
Tell us more about the shit movie. Sounds interesting.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Archie tried to get me to binge-watch Mindhunter, the Netflix series. I got through the first ballsaching episode (where exactly NOTHING happens), groaning and looking at my watch frequently. He managed to conveniently skip that one and started on E02, sprinting to the finish of E10 and making airy claims about long-form TV being “the new novel”. Which is rich coming from someone who bailed the first series of Narcos (easily the most literate long-form TV) because he found the lead actor’s accent not regional enough. Or something. Anyway, I may try E02 tonight.
Junior Wells says
Well Nebraska was an album of demos meant for another band album whereas Tom Joad was always meant to be what it is.
So Tom Joad can get a bit brooding = depressing whereas Nebraska has a more open lighter feel.
Declan says
Pretty much exactly my view as well, DV. I’ve been exposed to his stuff for 42 years and originally just refused to be drawn by his shouting, his bluster, and his white boy wish to be Wilson Pickett. It was exactly Nebraska that suggested he had other sides to his Telecaster.
He is, clearly, talented. He just needs to over-emote a bit less and let his music breathe a bit more, QED: Nebraska Then again, his fans like what he does and he is, apparently, quite good live. So what do I know? Dunno about popular round here either.
Rigid Digit says
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Fine, fine album.
Later albums never really cut it
(AM is best of the rest by a long way, but still lags behind the debut)
Arthur Cowslip says
Forgive me if someone has already mentioned the obvious, but what about Dylan? I’m sure this won’t be a popular opinion, and I say this as a fan, but the one album that is good all the way through and hangs together as a proper album is Highway 61 Revisited.
(Off topic, but I find I comment on posts much less than I would because of the rigmarole of having to sign in (worse if you get that bot thing) then being taken automatically to the opening page again, then having to find the post , then having to scroll down to the bottom again… Anyone else find this? By the time I get there, I’ve usually lost interest or forgotten what I was going to say. I’m sure many of my pearls of wisdom have been lost in that way.)